Last Sunday, our good friend Erick Sugimura defied the wind and started running with the family dog, Tang, on the Downtown bike trail, but after a quarter mile a tree broke off and hit the ground about 40 yards away. “Seriously,” he Facebooked, “it was probably 20-30 feet tall and six to eight feet in diameter!” There’s a term for that: “Red Fir Roulette,” and you can ask Bob Solima about it. He saw plenty of action like that as longtime winter caretaker at Reds Meadow. ...

Last Sunday, our good friend Erick Sugimura defied the wind and started running with the family dog, Tang, on the Downtown bike trail, but after a quarter mile a tree broke off and hit the ground about 40 yards away. “Seriously,” he Facebooked, “it was probably 20-30 feet tall and six to eight feet in diameter!” There’s a term for that: “Red Fir Roulette,” and you can ask Bob Solima about it. He saw plenty of action like that as longtime winter caretaker at Reds Meadow. ...

Speaking of the Big Wind, Monica Prelle, settling in for a nice Sunday night sleep after a vacation, was rudely awakened at 2 a.m. by chainsaws and a loader. Tree fell across the street. ...

Heartfelt best wishes for a speedy recovery to our favorite pathologist, Jim Tenney, who is up and at ’em with a brand new pacemaker. ...

Yep, those were Mammoth Mountain Ski Area’s Three Marketeers, Joanie Lynch, Dan Hansen and video whiz Amanda Carlson, hobnobbing with the TV hoi polloi in San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco this past week. They were hawking MMSA’s very fancy satellite uplink service, so’s the talking heads at KTLA, KABC and NBC Universal can get Mammoth Mountain TV images very fast, and with excellent video quality.

Mammoth dog trainer Anne Parkes just got a new puppy, a hound dog that is Tom Long’s (of Crowley Lake) great granddog. That is, Tom’s son owns the father of Anne’s puppy. Did all the dog genealogists get that? Hope so, ’cause we’re not going to repeat it. ...

Best wishes all around. Sylvie Petra and Kenzie Taylor were born Oct. 19 to Robert and Heather Schaubmayer, and babies and mom are home in Mammoth. ...

Cover page of Saturday’s sports section of the Los Angeles Times featured a dramatic photo of Lee Vining’s Sergio Garnica, who was injured during a football game. The article discussed “no standard for medical care at hundreds of games played each weekend,” and showed Wayne Beaver, a volunteer firefighter, tending to Garnica. Glad to read that Garnica is recovering. ...

Byng Hunt unloaded a carload of material Saturday afternoon at the recycling center. The view of the gray sky was blurred as cold wet stuff hit the windshield. He said that he and his wife discussed the Horizon ticket contest, figuring it’s about time to get back down to Southern California. ...

Over the past many days clouds have raised and lowered like blinds, occasionally obscuring everything behind Crystal Crag. It is stunning to see that crag standing out against the cloud. ...

Steve and Marcia Rose have departed Mammoth for Lahaina. Steve was GM of the Westin Monache, now GM of Honua Kai Resort & Spa on Maui. Marcia was a yoga teacher and their exuberant Portuguese water dog Tele pranced all over Mammoth’s trails. Aloha to them. ...

Last Saturday morning Lisa Isaacs interrupted the college football season to gather some folks for coffee and conversation with Mark Magit, one of two contenders for Mono County Superior Court judge. His ranking in the BCS poll remained unchanged. ...

A few years ago, we lost the last optician in Mammoth. Now comes word on dentists: Dr. Ron Kaylor, who has been in business for 24 years in Mammoth/June Lake/Bishop, is leaving this mountain town for Ohio, where he once played football for that Big Ten giant, Ohio State, and coach Woody Hayes; and Dr. Mark Zila is closing his practice, too. But three remain: Dr. Craig Schrager, Dr. Byron Sansom and Dr. Frank Mogavero.

Bishop compadre Tom Klinefelter reports via internet that he saw a “moonbow” last weekend in the wild night skies. That is so cool. ...

The perils of preparation include the Westin Monache hotel on Monday afternoon, when busy bees working on the boiler system set off the fire alarms. Not to worry. Just getting ready, is all. ...

It’s great to see John Armstrong, Eastside Velo chieftain and Kiwi skier par excellence, working with the new crop of Junior Racers up on the Mountain, challenging them with, among other things, leaping exercises to strengthen their stems. ...

This week’s frigid weather and the firing of snowmaking guns at Main Lodge have us yearning for ski season. We ran into Troy Meisner, 28, breakfast waiter at Rafters, the other morning. He’s a skier, been skiing with his dad since he was 4-and-a-half. He’s dreaming of moguls. Opening day is set for Nov. 11.

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